Furlough: Pair arrested over £3.4m job scheme fraud
Discussion
BBC said:
Two people have been arrested over a suspected £3.4m furlough scheme fraud.
The man, 35, and woman, 36, from Bradford, were also interviewed in relation to a suspected multi-million-pound tax fraud, officials said.
More than £6m held in bank accounts controlled by the pair has been frozen by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Both were held on suspicion of cheating the public revenue, VAT evasion and money laundering. They have since have been released under investigation.
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-570270...The man, 35, and woman, 36, from Bradford, were also interviewed in relation to a suspected multi-million-pound tax fraud, officials said.
More than £6m held in bank accounts controlled by the pair has been frozen by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Both were held on suspicion of cheating the public revenue, VAT evasion and money laundering. They have since have been released under investigation.
Will be interesting to see how many other cases come out in the upcoming months.
p4cks said:
Wonder why they've not been named?
Probably will be if/when they are charged? The tip of a very large iceberg, between that and the business loans it was a free for all. A friend of a friend set up a business account and 3 days later was able to get a grant of £10k. He then managed to get 2 or 3 more over time as successive lockdowns came in. How much of that cash has already moved offshore, into Bitcoin, or used to build houses in Albania?
The wording of the article suggests they may be business owners operating normally but claiming the furlough cash for their staff.
A bit of rudimentary maths and the assumptions that A) it's gone omfor 12 months, and B) all their staff earn over the max furlough amount (equiv to about a 30k a year salary I think?) and you get 120 people working for the year with the government paying their wages and the gaffers pocketing the £3.6m.
A bit of rudimentary maths and the assumptions that A) it's gone omfor 12 months, and B) all their staff earn over the max furlough amount (equiv to about a 30k a year salary I think?) and you get 120 people working for the year with the government paying their wages and the gaffers pocketing the £3.6m.
Condi said:
Probably will be if/when they are charged?
The tip of a very large iceberg, between that and the business loans it was a free for all. A friend of a friend set up a business account and 3 days later was able to get a grant of £10k. He then managed to get 2 or 3 more over time as successive lockdowns came in. How much of that cash has already moved offshore, into Bitcoin, or used to build houses in Albania?
Short term easy money & 10 years looking over your shoulder,hoping you got away with it. The tip of a very large iceberg, between that and the business loans it was a free for all. A friend of a friend set up a business account and 3 days later was able to get a grant of £10k. He then managed to get 2 or 3 more over time as successive lockdowns came in. How much of that cash has already moved offshore, into Bitcoin, or used to build houses in Albania?
I imagine HMRC has a very long memory...!
Andeh1 said:
Short term easy money & 10 years looking over your shoulder,hoping you got away with it.
I imagine HMRC has a very long memory...!
As it was he was perfectly entitled to the money as a self employed person, will pay tax on it etc, but the point was how few checks were made at the time. There have already been stories of 10 businesses set up at one address and the money moved very quickly away from the UK. No matter how good HMRC are, if the person they want isn't in the UK any more and neither is the cash, it's a hiding to nothing trying to get it back. I imagine HMRC has a very long memory...!
redrabbit said:
Biggy Stardust said:
Despite my general contempt for the efficiency of the public sector I believe that HMRC is very good at deciding who owes them money & then getting that money out of people.
Good one! That's given me a chuckle on a wet Saturday afternoon...It's been a free for all. Literally billions has evaporated into the ether, never to be seen again.
Biggy Stardust said:
Despite my general contempt for the efficiency of the public sector I believe that HMRC is very good at deciding who owes them money & then getting that money out of people.
I read a statistic a few years ago that stated 86% of tax evasion/fraud cases are from people reporting offenders, not through detection. Don’t know how accurate it was but this is interesting reading:https://www.ftadviser.com/your-industry/2020/09/01...
Jim the Sunderer said:
Bradford, what a cliché.
Windsor was “named as the tax-dodging capital of England”, says The Telegraph, with St Albans and Guildford close behindhttps://www.theweek.co.uk/108014/englands-tax-dodg...
Wilmslowboy said:
Windsor was “named as the tax-dodging capital of England”, says The Telegraph, with St Albans and Guildford close behind
https://www.theweek.co.uk/108014/englands-tax-dodg...
The article states those are the tax avoidance capitals ie entirely within the letter of the law?https://www.theweek.co.uk/108014/englands-tax-dodg...
Tax evasion is something different entirely isn't it?
272BHP said:
Wilmslowboy said:
Windsor was “named as the tax-dodging capital of England”, says The Telegraph, with St Albans and Guildford close behind
https://www.theweek.co.uk/108014/englands-tax-dodg...
The article states those are the tax avoidance capitals ie entirely within the letter of the law?https://www.theweek.co.uk/108014/englands-tax-dodg...
Tax evasion is something different entirely isn't it?
If you're rich and cheat the taxman it is called tax avoidance and legal.
Less well off and it's tax evasion.
Tongue in cheek BTW
stitched said:
272BHP said:
Wilmslowboy said:
Windsor was “named as the tax-dodging capital of England”, says The Telegraph, with St Albans and Guildford close behind
https://www.theweek.co.uk/108014/englands-tax-dodg...
The article states those are the tax avoidance capitals ie entirely within the letter of the law?https://www.theweek.co.uk/108014/englands-tax-dodg...
Tax evasion is something different entirely isn't it?
If you're rich and cheat the taxman it is called tax avoidance and legal.
Less well off and it's tax evasion.
Tongue in cheek BTW
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